What is a Growth Mindset and How Can it Help You Succeed?

0:09 hi there 0:10 you're looking marvelous today in this 0:12 session 0:13 you'll learn about the awesome power of 0:15 your beliefs particularly something 0:17 called the growth 0:18 mindset after decades of studying how 0:21 our beliefs affect us 0:22 researchers have found that our beliefs 0:24 about ourselves 0:26 others and how people become talented 0:28 predict how high we set our goals 0:30 and whether we succeed in achieving them 0:33 now our beliefs predict whether we seek 0:35 out hard problems or whether we take the 0:37 easy way out 0:38 whether we take risks or whether we play 0:40 it safe 0:41 whether we admit our mistakes or whether 0:43 we hide them 0:44 or whether we blame others for our 0:46 mistakes whether we ask for negative as 0:48 well as positive feedback 0:50 and whether we handle our transitions 0:52 well or whether we crumble 0:54 our beliefs even predict whether we're 0:56 more likely to cheat when given the 0:58 opportunity to do so 1:00 for over 10 years stanford psychologist 1:03 carol dweck and her colleagues 1:05 have been studying how our unconscious 1:07 beliefs about how people achieve success 1:09 have profound effects on our choices our 1:12 behaviors 1:13 and ultimately our ability to achieve 1:15 our goals 1:16 they have found that some people have 1:18 what they call a fixed mindset 1:20 whereas others have what they call a 1:22 growth mindset 1:24 and each mindset predicts how likely a 1:26 person is to succeed at school 1:28 at work in their career and even in 1:30 their personal relationships 1:33 these mindsets are described in this 1:34 session while learning about the power 1:37 of mindset 1:38 think about whether you tend to have 1:40 beliefs that are more consistent with 1:41 the fixed or the growth mindset 1:43 and consider the consequences these 1:45 beliefs may have on your future 1:47 and i'll tell you up front that i'm 1:49 going to make the case that you'd be 1:51 wise to have 1:52 or develop a growth mindset 1:56 people who have a fixed mindset believe 1:58 in nature over 1:59 nurture in other words they believe that 2:02 each person 2:03 inherits intelligence talents and 2:05 personality characteristics 2:07 that are unique to their genetic makeup 2:09 and these characteristics they believe 2:12 stay pretty stable throughout their 2:13 lives consequently 2:15 they're more likely to say things like 2:17 i'm a people person 2:19 i'm a numbers person she's a natural 2:22 storyteller 2:23 and leaders are born and not made they 2:26 see their strengths and weaknesses 2:27 as part of who they are as a person and 2:30 they make their day-to-day choices 2:32 according to this belief dr dweck and 2:35 her colleagues have found that people 2:37 with a fixed mindset 2:38 are more likely to seek out 2:40 opportunities where they can demonstrate 2:42 their strengths 2:43 and avoid situations that might expose 2:45 their weaknesses 2:47 they're less likely to take risks for 2:50 example 2:50 taking on a course or a job assignment 2:53 in which they may not excel 2:54 because they fear that doing so may put 2:56 them in situations that require 2:58 skills that they don't yet have and that 3:01 may lead to failure 3:04 when they or others make mistakes 3:06 they're more likely to believe that 3:07 these mistakes are due 3:09 to a lack of natural ability rather than 3:11 an opportunity to reflect on what they 3:13 can learn from the mistake 3:14 and learn new skills they are less 3:17 likely to seek out and appreciate 3:19 negative feedback 3:20 because it can feel like a threat to 3:22 their identity particularly because they 3:24 are more likely to believe that they 3:26 can't do much to change their weaknesses 3:28 since they believe that their strengths 3:30 and weaknesses are wired 3:31 in they are also more likely to quit 3:34 when facing hurdles and setbacks 3:36 because they believe that struggles 3:38 suggest that they don't have the natural 3:40 ability in those areas so 3:42 why even try for people with a fixed 3:46 mindset 3:47 focusing primarily on their strengths 3:48 may serve them well for a while 3:50 as they continue to excel in what they 3:52 already do well 3:54 but as they continue to miss out on 3:56 opportunities to take risks 3:58 learn and grow their strategy of 4:00 focusing on their strengths can backfire 4:03 in the long run because their strengths 4:05 that help them in the past 4:06 may not help them in the future 4:08 especially if the environment changes 4:11 and they don't change with it 4:13 in contrast people who have a growth 4:16 mindset 4:17 believe more in nurture than in nature 4:20 they believe that intelligence talents 4:22 and personality characteristics 4:24 are learned and can change over time 4:27 with effort 4:28 and practice they are more likely to say 4:31 she worked hard to get where she is 4:33 today i can become a great speaker 4:36 if i put my mind to it and leaders are 4:38 made 4:39 not born they believe that effort 4:42 careful planning 4:43 and ongoing learning more so than 4:45 natural ability 4:47 predict people's ability to achieve 4:49 success and they make their day-to-day 4:51 choices and pursue their goals according 4:54 to this belief 4:56 because they believe their strengths are 4:58 the result of effort 4:59 rather than innate abilities 5:02 they are more likely to take on projects 5:04 in which they can learn things that they 5:06 have not yet mastered 5:08 even if doing so highlights their 5:09 current weaknesses 5:12 they are more likely to take risks 5:14 because they are more interested in 5:15 growth than in protecting themselves 5:17 from the possibility of mistakes and 5:19 failure 5:20 they are more likely to see mistakes as 5:22 opportunities for learning 5:24 rather than as signs of permanent 5:26 personal flaws 5:28 they are more likely to seek out 5:30 negative feedback 5:31 and persist when faced with hurdles and 5:33 setbacks 5:34 because they believe these are to be 5:36 expected as they move 5:38 step by step toward their goals in fact 5:41 many people with a growth mindset find 5:44 negative feedback 5:45 hurdles and setbacks to be motivating 5:47 rather than demoralizing 5:49 and they double up their efforts to 5:51 improve their performance 5:54 the hallmark of people with a growth 5:56 mindset 5:57 is that they believe in the adage that 5:59 the harder i work 6:01 the smarter i get day by day 6:04 they focus more on developing their 6:05 future self than on validating and 6:07 protecting their current self 6:09 they don't see the advantage of being 6:11 the smartest person in the room 6:13 and they're not comfortable receiving 6:15 only positive feedback 6:18 now here's another way that a growth 6:20 mindset pays off 6:22 because they start taking risks and 6:24 learning from mistakes earlier in their 6:26 careers 6:27 people who favor a growth mindset tend 6:30 to be better prepared to handle the 6:32 bigger problems 6:34 and they make fewer mistakes later in 6:35 their career when the stakes are higher 6:39 dr dweck and her colleagues have 6:41 conducted and inspired over 10 years of 6:43 research on the power of the growth 6:45 mindset 6:45 in predicting success now listen for 6:48 yourself 6:48 to dr dweck talk about this research and 6:51 the power of what she calls 6:53 not yet 6:57 i hope you found dr dweck's presentation 7:00 to be useful 7:01 here's what's really interesting about 7:03 the growth mindset 7:05 a theme in this course is that small 7:08 interventions 7:09 can trigger big changes and this is 7:12 demonstrated in a study by dweck and her 7:14 colleagues 7:15 in the study researchers gave hundreds 7:18 of adolescent students 7:20 a test that was made up of 10 questions 7:22 designed to assess 7:23 nonverbal ability and most of the 7:26 students did pretty well on the test 7:29 after taking the test the researchers 7:31 praised 7:32 some of the students for their ability a 7:35 fixed 7:35 mindset saying wow you did very well on 7:40 those problems 7:41 you got x many problems right that's a 7:44 really good score 7:45 you must be smart at these problems 7:49 the researchers praised other students 7:51 for their effort 7:52 emphasizing a growth mindset they said 7:55 things like 7:56 wow you got x many right that's a really 8:00 good 8:00 score you must have worked hard at these 8:03 problems 8:04 the researchers later gave the students 8:07 the choice to tackle an easy or a hard 8:09 task 80 percent of the students who are 8:13 praised for their intelligence 8:14 the fixed mindset chose the easier task 8:18 and 67 percent of the students who were 8:21 praised for their effort 8:22 chose the challenging task now 8:26 as part of the study the researchers 8:28 also asked the students to write a 8:29 private letter to their peers 8:31 discussing their experience with the 8:33 study and revealing their scores on the 8:35 test that they took for the study 8:37 interestingly forty percent of the 8:40 students who were told 8:41 you must be really smart lied and 8:44 overstated their scores 8:46 compared to only thirteen percent of the 8:48 students who were praised for their 8:50 effort 8:51 it seems that the students with a fixed 8:53 mindset were more invested in 8:55 demonstrating that they were 8:56 smart not only to themselves but to 8:59 others as well 9:01 even if that meant inflating their 9:03 scores 9:05 in study after study researchers have 9:07 found 9:08 similar results for example the growth 9:11 mindset has been associated with 9:13 academic performance 9:15 in both underachieving and high 9:17 achieving students 9:19 it has been associated with adolescents 9:21 resilience 9:22 in responding to peer exclusion and 9:24 bullying 9:25 girls test scores in math community 9:28 college students grades and remedial 9:30 math courses 9:31 medical students grades hong kong 9:34 students willingness to take classes to 9:36 improve their english language skills 9:37 and managers willingness to coach 9:39 employees 9:40 and their effectiveness in doing so 9:43 let me tell you a personal story about 9:46 the power of 9:47 not yet about 15 years ago i was 9:50 academic director of the part-time mba 9:53 program at the raw school of business at 9:55 the university of michigan 9:57 a student was trying to get admitted to 9:59 the mba program 10:00 even though he had a low score on the 10:02 graduate management admissions test 10:04 a test that was required for admission 10:06 to the mba program 10:08 and it's supposed to be designed to 10:10 assess one's ability 10:11 to successfully tackle the rigors of an 10:13 mba program 10:15 he took the test several times studying 10:18 hard between each test 10:20 but despite his efforts his test score 10:23 would not 10:24 budge he applied to the mba program 10:26 twice 10:27 and he did not get admitted in large 10:30 part due to his low 10:31 gmat scores the third time he applied to 10:34 the mba program 10:36 he tried a different strategy he visited 10:39 the dean of the business school 10:40 and made the dean a promise he said that 10:43 he was certain that he would get 10:45 excellent grades if he was admitted to 10:47 the mba program 10:48 and he promised that if he did not get 10:50 high grades 10:51 he would voluntarily leave the program 10:54 based on that agreement he was admitted 10:56 to the program where he 10:58 indeed earned a very high grade point 11:00 average by the time he graduated with 11:02 his mba 11:03 a few years later i ran into him while i 11:06 was teaching a leadership program at his 11:07 place of work 11:09 he had enjoyed several promotions since 11:11 graduating from the mba program 11:13 and although i didn't know about the 11:15 research comparing the fixed and growth 11:17 mindsets at the time 11:18 i believe that having a growth mindset 11:20 played a key role in this man's success 11:23 he lived in a world of not yet and that 11:26 world was serving him his teams 11:28 and his organization very well 11:32 now before moving on you'll get more out 11:35 of this session if you take time to 11:37 think about your own mindset 11:39 and how it may affect your ability to 11:41 achieve your goals 11:43 to assess your mindset ask yourself the 11:46 following questions 11:49 do you say things like i'm a natural 11:51 people person 11:53 or i've learned to work well with people 11:56 do you say he's a born mathematician or 11:59 he must have worked hard to develop his 12:01 math skills 12:03 do you say she's a natural leader or 12:06 she worked her way up to the leadership 12:08 role if you're a parent 12:10 do you say things to your children such 12:12 as you're so 12:13 smart or you worked hard 12:16 you're a natural athlete or you sure 12:19 practice a lot 12:21 i guess math just isn't your talent 12:24 or what can you do to do better at math 12:28 how does what you say every day reflect 12:31 the growth or fixed mindset 12:33 and what might be the consequences on 12:35 your own or others performance 12:37 and ability to achieve important goals 12:42 how can you encourage yourself to use 12:44 language that reflects the growth 12:46 rather than fixed mindset for example 12:49 you can praise yourself and others for 12:51 the strategies 12:52 effort and resilience used when learning 12:55 new skills and talents 12:58 for your children you can ask them 13:00 questions such as 13:02 what did you do today that was hard what 13:05 can you learn 13:06 from this what mistakes did you make 13:09 that taught you something 13:11 well if that didn't work what can you do 13:14 to try another way 13:18 and you can guide your choices with the 13:20 power of the phrase 13:21 not yet and push yourself to become more 13:24 skilled in areas that you're not 13:26 yet good at for example if you're not 13:30 yet comfortable giving presentations you 13:32 can join one of the highly respected 13:34 toastmaster clubs in which you'll work 13:36 with others who are trying to enhance 13:38 their communication skills 13:40 if you aren't yet comfortable in 13:42 settings in which you should be speaking 13:43 with people informally 13:45 say a conference you can read a book or 13:47 search for a website about working the 13:49 room 13:50 or making small talk you can take 13:52 courses 13:53 including online courses to increase 13:55 your skills in many different areas 13:58 and then you can practice your new skill 14:01 every day 14:02 at home at school or at work 14:07 i hope you found learning about the 14:08 growth mindset to be interesting 14:10 and useful for yourself and for the 14:12 people you care about at work 14:14 at school and at home let me end this 14:17 session with one of my favorite 14:19 quotations by dr dweck 14:21 remember she said the people who start 14:24 off the smartest 14:25 don't always end up the smartest 14:29 in the next session we'll talk about how 14:31 the growth mindset 14:32 can protect people against some of the 14:34 negative effects 14:35 of prejudice and bias until then take 14:39 care 14:40 and i'll see you soon